Durex 'launches' eggplant-flavoured condoms

Condom manufacturer Durex had the Twittersphere questioning if it was April Fool's Day when it announced a new eggplant-flavoured condom.

In a tweet, Durex announced the strange flavour would be joining the shelves along with more traditional condom flavours like banana, strawberry and chocolate.

Twitter users were left confused, disgusted and amused.

But it turns out Durex would have the last laugh, later announcing it was all a hoax to promote safe sex.

In emoji language, the eggplant emoji is often used as a symbol for male genitalia. Durex said the stunt was in response to its appeal for a condom emoji being rejected by Unicode, an organisation which standardises letters and characters on computers.

"Emojis of this sort will enable young people to overcome embarrassment around the discussion of safe sex, encourage conversation and raise awareness of the importance of using condoms in protecting against sexually transmitted infections, including HIV and AIDS," Durex's marketing director Karen Chisholm said in a statement last year.

Confirming the eggplant-flavoured condom definitely wouldn't be a reality, Durex said in a statement: "Durex knows there is no place for an aubergine when it comes to safe sex.

"It's just as questionable, in fact, as a decision not to introduce a Safe Sex Emoji to empower young people to talk about sex, safely, in a language they are comfortable with."